Shadows and Gears
by CheshireCatGinger14
Summary: Ebon has always watched Richie. When he finds out Richie's superhero identity how will he cope with having to fight his first love?
1. Shadows and Gears

Ebon had always been the smartest of Dakota City's Bang Babies. Who did he have to compete with? Hotsteak? Please, that pyrokinetic is all flame and no brain. The Armadillo man? Come on, he is so scared of Ebon and his Metabreed he won't even come out after sunset anymore. No, Ebon was the undisputed master of the night. He finally had his dream of making it big in the crime world with his own minions to boot.

The shadow man looked on at his two sleeping cohorts; it had been a long night for all of them. Static and Gear had once again foiled Ebon's plans. Shiv and Talon slept on peacefully just counting themselves lucky to fight another day, but Ebon couldn't sleep.

His mind raced all through the night. He was getting more and more restless at night. It was as if he was becoming a shadow himself, set to dissipate into nothingness at any moment. Ebon growled and shook his head, mad at himself for thinking such self-pitying thoughts.

He stood wiped non-existent dust off his shadowy clothes and disappeared through a portal. A stray piece of paper blown through the Metabreed's latest hideout the only sign Ebon had ever been there.

Ebon appeared on the roof of an apartment building. The neighboring apartment building's windows facing him he searched for one particular window. The living shadow found it and his heart sunk a little bit at the realization that the room beyond was empty.

Ebon had long since stopped making excuses. In the early days of his spying he had rationalized his obsession with the blonde teen as nothing more than trying to get to Static. That excuse slowly became old as Ebon found himself coming to this rooftop even when the Metabreed had no plans in motion. Ebon came to this place to think and watch and, occasionally, dream.

He watched the teen in the window below as he played video games, talked with his friends, and occasionally tied a cape around his narrow shoulders and pretended to be Superman.

Ebon had tried to deny his feelings so many times, but they just kept bubbling to the surface, refusing to be drowned by Ebon's darkness. So he continued to watch Richie, who was unaware that he had captured a certain shadow's heart.


	2. identites and Curses

Ebon awoke to the sound of electricity. It was a sound that he had come to hate, as he always associated it with his arch-enemy. He gathered his surroundings and realized he had fallen asleep on the rooftop. He melted into the shadows moments before Static and Gear flew by.

The living shadow grew curious. What were electric kid and brain boy doing in this part of the city? Were they here to meet up with Richie? The shadow decided to wait and watch what happened next. It looked like the two superheroes were finishing up a night patrol. They bantered back and forth, to which Ebon rolled his eyes. They did a fist bump and then Static flew off. Ebon grew ever more intrigued.

The brainy superhero hovered for a second watching his friend ride off and then he yawned. Gear stretched his arms and rolled his head from side to side. Ebon froze for a moment and his mind started to race again. He looks just like Richie when he does that, Ebon thought, but they can't be the same person, Richie doesn't have any Metahuman powers. It was then that Ebon really looked at Gear. He had never really taken the time to study him before, just seeing him as a nuisance to get rid off when fighting Static.

Ebon began to piece things together in a rush. Gear and Richie both had the same physical makeup being white, blond haired, and having a narrow figure. What made Gear a superhero was his super gadgets so it wasn't that farfetched that a guy like Richie could become Static's sidekick especially considering what Ebon knew about their history together. Ebon's carefully constructed world began to crumble around him.

The living shadow's life had slowly evolved into two different worlds. First and foremost was his life of crime and his job as leader of the Metabreed. Ever since last winter, however, a new world, separate from his bad guy persona had begun to take root. Last winter Ebon had kidnapped Richie in hopes of getting to Static and Richie got to him instead.

The leader of the Metabreed could never figure out where the blonde had gotten that much courage. He was in an unfamiliar place surrounded by enemies and he still stood up to them. No one, besides Sparky, had stood up to them like that. After their defeat that day he had decided that Richie was the key to defeating Static. Ebon just didn't count on the brave blonde clearing away the shadows that he had wound so tightly around his heart.

Ebon had to find out for sure. He opened a portal on the rooftop and appeared on Richie's window ledge. He slide into the shadows, which were plentiful at that time of night. Then he artfully slipped into the natural shadows lining the inside of the bedroom. It looked like a normal teenager's room complete with a messy bed and clothes scattered over the floor. On the edge of the bed sat a very tired-looking Gear. He sighed, stretched his arms one more time and then reached up to his face. Gear removed his visor to reveal Richie Foley.

Ebon cursed under his breath. Richie started and looked around frantically, "Who's there?" He questioned, he began to scrounge around for his glasses. Suddenly an alarm went off, Backpack had picked up an intruder.

The unnatural shadows in Richie's room leapt from the room in a panic and headed back to Metabreed Head Quarters leaving the papers in Richie's room fluttering, picked up by an unforeseen wind.

The hair on his neck standing up, Richie found his glasses and picked up some of the fallen paper after changing back into civilian clothes. Remembering Backpack's alert failure the last time She-Bang came to town Richie made himself a mental note to do some updates on Backpack's programming when he and Virgil had some down time. Richie locked the door and drew his curtains. He collapsed on his bed thinking about the curse he thought he heard. He sighed, turned over, and soon fell asleep completely forgetting the shady encounter.


	3. Bruises and Flashbacks

**Hello! Just a note: Chapters 3 and 4 are combined but I made them separate chapters because Chapter 4 is a flashback from Chapter 3. Just warning you now the story takes a turn here that is kind of unexpected. It's just where the story took me because I needed a "plausible" way to get this romance started. It seems so many stories just throw couples together without giving any adequate setup. I don't know maybe I'm just picky, but I hope all of you reading still enjoy anyway!**

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Richie woke to the sound of his alarm clock buzzing; unhappily he reached to shut it off. Through half-open eyes he saw a shadow-like bruise on his wrist. Richie sat up suddenly, surprised, inspecting the injury. He sighed, "So it wasn't just a dream."


	4. Fighting and Resucing

**FLASHBACK**

It was Friday. The day of slowly bubbling anticipation as the clock slowly ticked down to the end of the school day signaling the beginning of the weekend. The time to eat pizza and check out the latest comic book issues. When teenagers can just be lazy and recharge their batteries for the coming week when summer seems so far away. That is, of course, unless you're also a superhero. In that case, well, duty calls!

'Duty calls' indeed, thought Richie as he and Virgil responded to yet another distress call. "Sometimes I feel like I spend more time as Gear than me. This is the second call today!" Richie complained to his friend and crime-fighting partner.

Virgil sighed, "Yeah I know what you mean Rich, but we got to get our heads in the game this time. The Metabreed can be tricky to deal with, especially with shadow brain calling the shots."

"I guess you're right." Richie smiled; V always reminded him why he kept doing this superhero thing.

As they neared the Dakota Mall, where the call originated from, Static and Gear were ready for action. "Come on! Let's fry these guys then we'll get some pizza." Static shouted, electricity coming off the super-charged hero in waves.

"Sweet! You buying?" Gear called playfully. It always calmed his nerves to joke around before a confrontation with other Metahumans.

"You wish!" Static laughed, happy to have his best friend by his side.

The scene before them was very reminiscent of past Metabreed plans. Static and Gear flew in to the usual mayhem. People were running towards the exit as Shiv and Talon burst out of a second floor electronics store overlooking the food court. Shiv carried an expensive looking TV set on his back while Talon flew through the air with a bag surely full of stolen merchandise. "It's Static!" Talon cried, alerting Shiv to an impending fight.

"Excuse me, but I don't think this belongs to you." Static said, electrifying the TV and lifting it off Shiv's shoulders.

"Hey mind your own business, Sparky!" Shiv said disgruntled, making swords out of his hands, ready to rip Static a new one.

While Shiv made his way to Static, Talon tried to sneak out the back entrance. "Where do you think you're going?" Gear asked as he hefted a Zap-Cap in the direction of the airborne enemy.

Talon plummeted to the ground, screaming as she was about to be impaled on the tables and chairs below. Gear swooped in to save her from injury, dumping her in the fountain instead.

"Fish out of water huh?" Gear laughed as Talon sputtered and splashed in the ankle deep water.

"You'll pay for this, brain boy!" Talon shrieked.

"Sure sure, now stay put." Gear shrugged off the threat and flew up to help Static. Gear found him magnifying Shiv to the wall outside the robbed store just as Ebon appeared out of the shadows behind him, about to strike.

"Static! Look out!" Gear yelled to his friend.

"What?" Static turned around, face-to-face with the shadow master himself. Static yelled and dropped his magnetic confinement on Shiv. As Ebon and Static started grappling for the upper-hand. Shiv started to sneak toward them, swords dragging across the landing menacingly.

"Oh no you don't!" Gear said, taking off at a run to intercept Shiv.

"Stay out of this!" Shiv growled, hitting Gear with the blunt side of his weapon, sending Gear flying toward the back wall of the second floor.

Static hearing Shiv's approach turned around and jolted the savage. He fell to the ground as both Virgil and Ebon spotted Richie about to crash through the wall.

"No, Richie!" they both shouted. Ebon reacted in an instant. He sprang through the shadows, caught Richie in his arms, and opened a portal where Richie would have hit the wall unable to stop at the speed they were traveling they disappeared into the darkness.

Virgil watched the portal close, his mouth hanging open, powerless to put his surprise into words.


	5. Feelings and Malfunctions

As the portal closed Backpack was alerted to an intruder. It began to fire off a warning, but because of the fluidness of the portal world Backpack began to short circuit. The high tech gadget shocked Richie and by extension Ebon. Both screamed as the electricity coursed through them and Ebon lost control of the shadows as they both faded into unconsciousness.

Richie woke to a splitting headache. He groaned and put his hand to his face, slowly opening his eyes. He realized he was in his Gear costume and jolted up to the argument of his heavy head. Did he get knocked out fighting with Static? Richie wondered, taking in his surroundings ready to jump into action, concussion or no.

That's when Richie began to sense something weird. He was on a rooftop overlooking an apartment building. No enemies in sight, but nobody else either. The world had turned a dark shadowy color with a purple tinge, just like…-

Ebon groaned, waking up to find his unrequited love practically in his lap. Richie screamed, finally noticing he was sitting on someone and that it was one of his and Static's greatest enemies. He scrambled to the other side of the rooftop. There, as he got a good look at the shadow, Richie realized he wasn't a shadow anymore. Ebon looked like a normal teen. He was dressed in a tight black shirt that showed off his muscles, a gray vest covering his shoulders and baggy purple pants. The earring in his ear jingled as he stood up uncertainly. His dark eyes slowly climbed the length of Richie's body and finally settled on shocked aqua blue eyes. "What happened to you?" Richie asked after a few moments of silent observation.

"What do you mean?" Ebon slurred, obviously still a little disoriented.

"You're not a shadow anymore." Richie stated, his hands gesturing to Ebon's unusually human-like form.

Ebon looked at his hand, then his arm, down at his legs and even under his shirt with a sort of slow indifference. Richie watched with disbelief. He would have thought that if Ebon ever lost his Metahuman powers he would be furious, but he was acting as if this was completely normal. Richie was very confused. He decided to start with figuring out where he was and deal with Ebon later. "Backpack, scan area." Richie paused, waiting for the response, it never came.

"Backpack, respond!" Richie said exasperated. Still there was no response. Richie sighed and unhooked the robot from his back. When he saw the tattered remains of the gadget, still sparking occasionally, Richie remembered everything.

I was going to crash through that wall and Ebon saved me, Richie thought even more confused than before. Why would _he_ save _me_?

At least it explains some things, Richie deduced, his super-genius brain kicking into overdrive, analyzing all the possibilities and settling on the most likely. When Backpack short-circuited while going through the shadow portal it must have messed with the structure of the shadows and when Ebon lost control, it dumped them here. Since this is a kind of in between world it must have turned Ebon back to a normal-looking teen.

Normal, though, was stretching it a bit too far, Richie thought as he watched the normally all too sinister villain stumble as he took a step forward on shaky legs only to fall down. He hit the ground, looked up, and cocked his head to the side as if wondering how he got there. Then he burst out laughing.

Richie chuckled slightly at the playful side of the crime boss. Richie smiled; Ebon's laugh is kinda…cute. It wasn't the usual maniacal chuckle that accompanied a Metabreed trap. This was different. The laughter was light and airy, if a little horse-sounding, as if he hadn't laughed in a long time. I'd love to hear _that _laugh more often.

Richie shook the notion off, turning away from the laughing supervillain. Oh no, I can't seriously be considering…? No, Richie, good guys are scarce in Dakota, I know, but there's no need to resort to Ebon's level. He's rotten, rotten to the core! Not. Save-able. Richie told himself, silencing any other thoughts on the matter. Richie started to work on repairing Backpack as best he could, hoping that he could figure a way out of this mess.


	6. Dreams and Reality

**Hello** **again! How are you guys doing? Thank you for all the nice reviews! It really warms my heart that you guys like the story. This is my first Fanfic so it's great to find other people who share my love for this odd couple^.^ Hope you like this next chapter! **

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The slight tinkering of metal on metal snapped Ebon out of some of his mental fog brought on by the malfunction of the portal. His eyes opened onto a purple-ish shadowy sky. Where am I anyway? Ebon thought bringing his hand to his forehead.

That's when he noticed the normalness of the appendage. Ebon looked himself over, disbelieving, there were no shadows in sight. Subconsciously, he sighed in relief. It was a hard to be a living shadow all the time and to have a break was kind of nice.

This must be a dream, Ebon thought, and settling back on the ground where he'd been laying, content with that explanation and intending to enjoy it.

Suddenly a loud metallic clanking sound rebounded off the concrete surface. Ebon winced at the unwelcome sound, thinking, even in my dreams Shiv has to ruin them with those blasted weapons of his!

"Shiv! What did I tell you about-" Ebon's words caught in his throat as shadowy black met ocean blue. Gear crouched near Backpack, frozen, one arm reaching toward a pale silver wretch.

What is Gear doing here? Ebon questioned, narrowing his eyes at the sight of his enemy. It took him a few seconds to realize as he looked past the costume that Richie was inside staring at him with wary eyes as if he would strike at a second.

Instead of striking out at the teenaged superhero, he smiled. This smile, like his laugh earlier, was warm and lit up his whole face with benign amusement. Ironically, this uncharacteristic smile caught Richie off guard more than Ebon's earlier outburst.

"Well, this dream just keeps on getting better and better." Ebon's voice rumbled coyly. Richie shivered the tone of his voice shooting straight up his spine. He licked his lips nervously and picked up the fallen tool. Richie turned his back to Ebon, still feeling dark eyes on his back. He resisted another shiver and went back to work on Backpack ignoring the lingering supervillian behind him.

Richie unscrewed Backpack's control panel with swift fingers, working away at his task, determined to forget the smile that kept replaying in his mind. Under many wires, criss-crossing and overlapping each other that would make no sense to anyone other than Gear with his super brain powers, Richie found Backpack's reset button just as he felt a presence move into his personal space.

The gadget beeped to life, flashing a slowly increasing percentage with the word 'reboot' above the numbers. "So even in my dreams you ignore me?" A deep voice murmured with a hint of disappointment.

Richie's ear tingled as the sultry voice went all the way to his toes. "Of course I'm ignoring you; we're enemies I can't exactly rely on you to get me out of here, Ebon." Richie's words came out mechanically without showing how unsure and nervous he actually was at his presence being so close.

Ebon studied Richie. His locked jaw and constantly fidgeting hands gave away his calm demeanor. The shadow man smirked. He had already resigned himself to a life without ever telling Richie how he really felt about him especially because now Ebon knew he is also Gear. But that doesn't mean he can't have a little fun in his dreams, Ebon thought slyly.

Ebon sauntered in close to Richie, who on the other hand was doing his best to ignore the lingering feelings that budded in his chest, still not touching him and said, "You don't fool me, Richie."

Richie at the sound of his name, his real name, jumped up. He started to back away from the other man with a look of pure terror on his face. The other's face looked self-assured, a cross between the Ebon that Gear knew and the one Richie had seen shine through on this increasingly strange day. "What are you talking about? My name's not Richie." He replied, playing dumb, although his voice shook. His back hit the brick wall of the roof entrance from the building.

Ebon followed Richie's faltering footsteps. He punched the wall next to Richie's head, making the blonde wince. Richie raised his left hand to block Ebon's approach, but he was too fast, he leaned in, putting his hand on Richie's wrist. Anchoring the fighting limb above their heads Ebon whispered, "You can't trick me, Richie. I know who you are." He pushed up Gear's visor and crushed his lips against Richie's.

Richie froze. The rough kiss brushed his lips with the force of a hurricane. The taste of Ebon was intoxicating. Now all the growing feelings Richie had pushed down burst out. He struggled with himself again trying to rationalize this bizarre turn of events. This is wrong, his brain screamed, he's the enemy! I can't.

Richie's brain began to kick into overdrive. This is the moment I'm supposed to push him away and ask what the hell he thinks he's doing. The fingers of his right hand twitched against the cool brick wall. He remained as he was, still.

Screw it. His right hand left the brick to grasp Ebon's head as he returned the kiss with the energy of a Tiger beating back a storm.

Ebon hesitated. He'd expected his motion to be met with swift and concise judgment i. e. he'd been waiting for Richie to punch him through the pavement. When the opposite was established he shied away, breaking the kiss.

"Wha-" Ebon began to ask, when Richie cut him off, "Shut up and kiss me."

Richie didn't wait. He pulled Ebon back to him and planted one on him before his fried brain could catch up with his body's actions. Roles, surprisingly, reversed Ebon stood still for a second before closing his eyes and leaning into the kiss.


End file.
